Animes That I Do Not Watch But Everyone Else Does (and their mangas)

[Wolf Kanno]

Both series have their strengths and their faults. I'm going to be fair with you. The first priority is that if you decide to watch either or both. Do it by yourself and make sure you have a few episodes in a row that you can watch. Both series are painfully slow to start. In fact overall, I feel Naruto has a stronger start since its not cliche "monster of the week" garbage. Both series have obnoxious fanbases and I advise not watching them with fans...

Naruto has a better pace when it comes to introducing characters and making you like them. In fact Naruto's supporting cast is generally more interesting and endearing than the main cast. Bleach starts off really slow introducing characters to you and then it starts massive character dumps. Seriously, the cast almost triples when the Soul Society arc begins. The author likes introducing 20 or 30 characters at a time with long stretches of nothing in-between. He does a better job in the Espada/Hueco Mundo arc but at times the plot gets rather confusing cause you're just trying to figure out who is who.

As for the main casts, Naruto is likable in the Japanese version or manga version. Sasuke is a bit whiny and selfish but he actually starts off somewhat likable and becomes more of an asshole as the story goes on. Sakura is annoying and obnoxious, she gets slightly better later...much much later I'm afraid. Luckily her story segments are unimportant and can be skipped. Kakashi is pretty awesome though. Seriously you watch the series for everyone else.

For Bleach, Ichigo is atypical Shonen main character. He has a bit of Yusuke (of Yu Yu Hakusho fame) in him but is unable to really move past the cliche's I'm afraid. Orihime is awesome in the beginning and eventually becomes just as obnoxious as Sakura I'm afraid. Chad is awesome but gets quickly overshadowed by other characters, Rukia is a nice change of pace for female heroines but regretfully goes off duty for a large part of the series (I think she caught emo) where you occasionally check in and listen to her drone on about how worthless she is. She gets better but not for awhile I'm afraid. Uryu is pretty cool but like many characters in Bleach, he gets quickly overshadowed by other newer characters introduced.

The fighting aspect in both is about equal. Both try to shy away from "DBZ all out brawls" but both succumb and generally more often than you think. Luckily both also have enough characters with unusual abilities that make for more thought provoking battles. The type that are more about brains than brawn and luckily these are also used more often than you think.

Story-wise Naruto started off really strong but eventually falls to pieces about the time the story jumps 2 years into the future. The Jump for the most part feels like the author is rushing through tying up all the loose ends rather and finishing the series off instead of a continuation.

Bleach is long winded. Its story arcs are pretty long and mostly spent on trying to introduce you to the swarms of new characters introduced. Outside of pacing the plot is good but for the most part feels like its always just promising "something good" later on. Even from where I am up to it feels like everything is just leading up to some glorious plot twist that will tear the whole story asunder. Basically, the story keeps feeling like something good is about to happen around the corner. Never mind its almost the same length in volumes as Naruto which is finally finishing up.

As for which medium to enjoy them. The Naruto anime is quite exceptional if only cause its soundtrack is amazing. Also, a really good animation team comes in and does the really memorable battles from the series and they are easily the best I've seen in uber long serialized series. Though if you do watch the anime, do Japanese. Not because the english is outright terrible but only cause most subs don't bother with Naruto's obnoxious catch phrase.

As for Bleach, read the manga, the anime does no justice for the manga especially concerning the battles which feel like they are all battling in invisible molasses in the anime. The soundtrack is also terrible. Its been a long time since I've watched an anime that has a soundtrack that detracts from the story.

Also, I second going through Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon. Though in its case. Watch the first three seasons and then go through the whole manga. The manga is as usual better.